How to Do Right by the Disabled

About a year ago the Senate fell five votes short of ratifying an international treaty that would improve protections for the disabled. It was an ignoble spectacle as the opponents rebuffed Bob Dole, a former colleague and disabled veteran, who came to the Senate floor to lobby for it. The Senate now has a chance to redeem itself.

Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has revived the treaty, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. He has held two hearings and plans a committee vote perhaps next month. Unanimous approval leading to quick Senate ratification is warranted; 138 other countries have ratified the treaty.

The United States is the leader in promoting the rights of people with disabilities because of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. But projecting that globally has been hampered by the failure to ratify the U.N. convention in the four years since President Obama signed it. As Secretary of State John Kerry said last week, when the treaty countries gather to discuss accessibility and employment standards for people with disabilities, “we’ve been excluded because we’re not a party to the treaty.”

Practically, that means America is weakened in its ability to press for fire alarms with flashing lights so people who are deaf will know when there is an emergency or for sidewalks with curb cuts for people in wheelchairs. Such advocacy does not just benefit foreigners. Disabled Americans would find it easier to travel, study and live abroad if the United States could win improved conditions.

Previously, a right-wing fringe defeated the treaty with the absurd claims that it “crushes” American sovereignty and leads to bureaucrats’ taking disabled children from their parents. It was always hard to take such nonsense seriously. Now, with a growing number of veterans groups and corporations backing the treaty, perhaps the Senate naysayers can be persuaded to do what’s right.